


More Than Enough

by LOTSlover



Category: Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons)
Genre: Angst, Death, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 11:34:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2691410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LOTSlover/pseuds/LOTSlover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Diana struggles to deal with her failure after a mission goes terribly wrong. Will Batman be able to help her through it?  One-Shot.  BM/WW</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Than Enough

More Than Enough

Batman immediately stepped off the transport pad, his jaw already set with tension as he stalked through the Watchtower to the Monitor Womb like a ferocious lion hunting for its prey. His gauntleted fingers curled tightly into frustrated fists, overt purpose fueling every fierce pound of his black boots against the metal flooring.

His chest was clenched tightly, his heart even more so as he stormed past fellow Leaguers and Watchtower civilian staff alike. He refused to make eye contact, ignoring their greetings as he made his way towards his intended destination.

Superman’s words still rang loudly in his ears, forcing him to unconsciously quicken his pace. He should have been there, should have been on that mission. Instead, he’d been tied up in a pointless business meeting at Wayne Enterprises. She had needed him and he hadn’t been there.

Guilt coursed through his veins, pumping something dark and bitter and dangerous through his body. It threatened to consume him, to thrust him headlong into that desolate hell once again, the one that he had often found himself in before he had met her. 

Entering the Monitor Womb, Batman swiftly made his way towards the Martian Manhunter who was sitting at the computer display, Superman standing by his side with his arms folded over his muscular chest. A grim expression adorned Clark’s face as he turned to face him. It did little to settle his near panic.

“Batman,” he greeted him, his voice missing the usual genial tone that it almost always held.

“Where is she?” he brusquely demanded without preamble.

There was very real fear in the Kryptonian’s blue orbs, worry in the faint lines around his eyes and mouth with his apprehensive expression. Clark drew a deep breath, slowly releasing it before finally responding to his friend – either to prepare himself for Batman’s reaction or in an effort to calm his own worry for his best friend.

“She’s in the training room,” Clark informed him. “She’s been in there ever since she returned over two hours ago. She disabled all of the safeties and is running training programs on the most dangerous settings.”

“Did you try talking to her?” Batman questioned him, his teeth nearly cracking from the tension building in his jaw. “You’re her best friend aren’t you?”

“I only returned to the Watchtower just before you,” Superman replied, ignoring his friend’s sarcastic remark, knowing his anger was rooted in fear. “She’s turned off her commlink and won’t respond to any of my calls. She’s also dismantled the door.”

“Why didn’t you just break the door down and drag her out of there?” Batman hissed, trying to contain the simmering anger inside but failing mightily. 

“I thought it best to wait for you,” he calmly explained. “I’m afraid for her, Bruce. Her vital signs are growing erratic; she’s basically fighting herself to death in there. You’re the only one who can reach her and you know it. She’ll listen to you. Besides, we’ve been monitoring a potential disaster in Chile that I’m going to leave to deal with soon.”

Batman gritted his teeth, his jaw clenched painfully in both anger as well as ice cold fear. “I’m going in there after her,” he growled, turning on his heel only to be brought to an abrupt stop by a steel hand suddenly clamping down on his arm.

“There’s something you need to know first,” Clark told him.

XXX

Diana screamed in rage as well as immense pain as her fist connected with Darkseid’s face again, the bones in her hand finally cracking from the repeated abuse she’d been putting her body through as he crumbled to the ground. Her knuckles were raw and bleeding from the repeated beatings she’d been dishing out to anything and everything that moved or breathed.

Raven strands singed by fire and reeking of smoke clung to her shoulders and back damp with sweat. Dirt and soot marked her skin and uniform as well as numerous cuts and scrapes from the mission…the mission that had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

Diana squeezed her eyes tight against the horrific images that continued to roll through her mind, the cries for help that had plagued her for the last two hours and would continue to do so for a long time to come. She couldn’t breathe, her heart hammering so wildly she thought it would burst right out of her chest.

_“Save my mommy…please…don’t let her die…”_

Her whole body trembled, her fingernails biting into the palms of her hands as she threw her head back and released a primal cry of pain. This was a wound unseen by the naked eye, buried far too deep for anyone to touch. It felt as if her very soul had been ripped open and lay bare, a pulsing wound that would never heal.

_“Please Wonder Woman…save my mommy!”_

It was the sweet cherubic voice that would never stop pleading with her to save the one person that mattered most in this world to her, those big blue eyes brimming with tears far too large to hold. She’d never forget that little girl, her blond pigtails or the way that she stood there staring up at her as she clutched her teddy bear tightly against her chest.  
It had been such a simple request by a five year old little girl named Bailey, a desperate plea for help that she heard nearly every day of her life as a member of the Justice League.

A friend…a lover…a husband or wife…a mother and father…a child.

Save them. Please save them. Don’t let them die. Help me, Wonder Woman. Save them for me.

She had thought that she was enough, believed that she could save them all and not allow anyone to suffer the pain of losing a loved one. She had seen what that crushing loss had done to Bruce, how it had changed his life forever and like him she wanted to help save others from sharing that same fate.

But she couldn’t. She didn’t. Not today. Hera, not today. Why not this time?

Because she wasn’t enough.

She had been blessed by the gods and bestowed with gifts unlike others had ever seen and still she hadn’t been nearly enough. She had come to Man’s World to make a difference, to use her gifts to help others and she had failed.

With a growl of pure rage, Diana spun on her heel, slamming her fist directly into Granny Goodness as she snuck up on her from behind. Granny cackled with glee as she quickly righted herself, shaking off the blow by the powerful Amazon.

“Is that all you’ve got, Sweetie?” Granny gloated. “That was weak for an Amazon. You’re pathetic!”

Diana seethed with a white-hot rage as she attacked with a fierce vengeance, her fists connecting with Granny over and over again until she was no longer moving. Straightening up, she suddenly arched her back, crying out in pain as Mad Harriet’s razor-sharp claws slashed across her back, ripping the skin open.

Warm sticky blood oozed down her back already slick with sweat and causing it sting even more, but she ignored it as she turned her wrath on the other Female Fury. Exhaustion overwhelmed her, her limbs like jelly and her body screaming in pain, but she pushed herself even harder, desperate to rid herself of the self-loathing and guilt that was eating her alive from the inside out.

She had to be more, had to better. She had to train harder, needed to be stronger, faster, able to save more.

She was Wonder Woman, Diana of Themyscira and Princess of the Amazons. She was a damn warrior, trained and tested for every form of battle. She had been on countless missions since first coming to Man’s World, saving thousands of lives and yet today she hadn’t been enough…not nearly enough.

With every punch she delivered, Diana screamed, “I wasn’t enough!” 

If only that steel beam and concrete blocks had given way when it had, slamming her through three floors and trapping her in that inferno. She had blacked out for a moment, fighting to breathe despite the smoke and the searing flames that had licked at her skin.

_“My mommy died! It’s your fault!”_

Tears suddenly began to break free, cascading down her cheeks flushed with exhaustion and anger. Finishing off Mad Harriet with a combination of hits and kicks she’d learned from Batman, Diana abruptly dropped to her knees, unable to go a moment longer as her body finally gave out on her. She covered her face with her hands as she broke down in body wracking sobs.

“I wasn’t enough…I wasn’t…I wasn’t enough,” she sobbed as gentle arms slowly and carefully wrapped around her.

Too exhausted to care that someone had actually managed to get into the training room, Diana fell limply against his large muscular form, knowing without looking that it was him. He always came for her…always, but she didn’t deserve him, didn’t deserve the title she bore or the uniform that she wore.

“I wasn’t enough…” she continued to cry as she buried her face into his chest, clinging to him with what little strength that she had left. “Why wasn’t I enough?”

Bruce’s heart broke for her as she wept, the sight of her when he had first entered the training room nearly buckling his knees. She looked as though she’d been to hell and back, her body covered with soot and blood and sweat. He had never seen her so devastated before, so grief-stricken.

It was unnerving to see her like this. She was always so strong, so confident. She radiated such brilliant light and hope, giving him the strength to press on when he felt like just giving up. She had always been his source of strength…his anchor, the one he relied on to keep him from sinking into those dark depths that threatened to swallow him whole at times. 

He tightened his hold on her despite his fear of hurting her, unsure of the extent of her injuries and yet he needed to know that she was alright. The feel of her in his arms again had helped to calm a small measure of his fears, but only a little. Panic still had a strangle-hold on his heart.

She was so broken right now and she needed him to help put her back together. He just hoped that he’d be able to.

Kneeling on the ground before her, her held her close, allowing her to cry for what felt like an eternity, but it mattered little to him. The only thing that mattered to him was her and only her. Everything else in the world always fell away when it came to Diana.

He gently stroked her hair, pressing his cheek to the top of her head and silently providing her the strength and comfort that he knew she so desperately needed from him right then. His eyes roamed over the training room, taking in the massive amount of carnage that surrounded them. 

The beating Diana had taken from the training program was not nearly as severe as the one that she had delivered to the countless villains that littered the ground and yet emotionally he knew she’d been hurt far worse. The wounds on the inside would take far longer to heal than the physical ones.

Diana finally pulled back, hanging her head in shame as the tears continued to trickle down her face and dripped from her chin. “I…I wasn’t…I…” she choked out with shuddering gasps as she fought to catch her breath that the tears had denied her.

“Shhh…” he gently replied, his gauntleted hands coming to rest on either side of her face. “It’s not your fault, Princess.”

“Yes, it is, Bruce,” she cried, suddenly pushing him away before jumping to her feet. “I didn’t save her! I wasn’t strong enough…fast enough! I…I wasn’t enough!”

“Yes, you were, Diana,” Bruce insisted, his voice firm as he stood to his feet as well, watching her as she began to pace like an animal searching for escape.

“I…I can’t do this anymore,” she told him. “I’m not worthy to wear this uniform.”

“Diana, you’re too upset right now,” he evenly stated. “You’re about to drop from exhaustion. You’re not in the right frame of mind to be making any decisions like this. You need to let me check you over and treat your injuries.”

Diana suddenly came to a stop, whirling on him with all the rage that was still brewing beneath the surface. “I failed that little girl, Bruce!” she screamed at him, her heartache rolling off of her in heated waves. “Because of me, Bailey will go to bed tonight without her mother! I took away the only person she had in this world!”

Batman swiftly closed the distance between them, grabbing hold of her forearms and forcing her to listen to him. “It was not your fault, Diana!” he yelled at her in an effort to get through to her, using every ounce of strength he had to keep her from breaking free from his hold though he knew she could easily shatter his wrist with little effort. “Her mother was dead before you could even get to her!”

Diana instantly froze with his words, wanting more than anything to believe that what he was saying was true, but was afraid to actually believe it. Was he only saying that so that she wouldn’t blame herself anymore?

“You…you don’t know that. You couldn’t,” she cried as she shook her head in stunned disbelief, hot tears creating fresh tracks down her cheeks. “You weren’t there, Bruce. You don’t know what happened. You…you can’t know that.”

“No, I wasn’t,” he agreed, wishing more than anything that he had been there for her sake. “I do know, however, that you were amazing today, Diana. You rescued over a dozen people from that burning apartment building including that little girl.”

“But I…I couldn’t get to her mother in time,” she gasped, her chest heaving with grief. “I flew back inside, but the smoke was so thick and the fire was so hot. The building was collapsing all around me and I…I got trapped under some rubble. It took some time for me to finally break free from it, but by the time I found her…it…it was too late.”

“You can’t save everyone, Princess,” he reminded her. “You know that it’s not possible with what we do. I know it’s never easy, but we’ve lost people before.”

“But she was pregnant, Bruce,” she growled. “She…she was pregnant. She and her unborn baby died because I couldn’t get to her in time.”

Bruce swallowed hard, not knowing that part of the story. His heart suddenly felt heavier not only for the tragedy but for the guilt that Diana needlessly bore because of it all. “You gave your all, Diana,” he told her. “You risked your life to get to her in time. There was nothing more you could have done.”

“My best wasn’t good enough,” she replied, her voice wavering with emotion. “When I brought her mother’s body out, Bailey started yelling at me…told me that I had let her mother and sister die and that she hated me.”

“It’s not your fault that she died,” he argued. “Diana, she overdosed on heroin. Her daughter was too young to realize it. It was just a coincidence that there was a short-circuit in the electrical wiring at the same time, causing the building to catch on fire.”

“What?” she whispered, almost afraid to believe it.

“It’s true,” he reassured her. “She was a known drug addict. J’onn immediately called the coroner to have him double check the cause of death. There was no inhalation of smoke or flames because she was already dead.”

Diana threw herself into Bruce’s embrace, nearly knocking him backwards as relief washed over her, but she couldn’t help the sorrow she felt for the little girl who had lost her mother and sister. She was an orphan now with no one to love her or tuck her into bed at night, no one to read her bedtime stories.

“I just feel so horrible for that poor little girl,” she murmured. “Bailey’s all alone in this world now.”

“I’ve already taken care of that,” he told her. “I made a call to a friend of mine at the orphanage in Gotham and Beth is already on her way to pick the little girl up and take her back there. She’ll be well cared for, Princess…I promise.”

“Thank you, Bruce,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper as she fought to keep her eyes open.

Bruce caressed her bruised cheek with the back of his fingers, noticing how she was barely able to stand at that moment. “I can take you there to see her in a few days you want.”

Diana’s face fell with his offer, tears returning to her eyes already red from crying as well as fatigue. “I don’t think she would want to see me,” she softly said. “She hates me, Bruce. She thinks it’s my fault that her mother and sister died.”

“She’s a little girl who doesn’t understand what happened to her mother,” he explained. “Just give her a little time, Princess. I’ll call Beth in a couple days to see how she’s adjusting. We can take Bailey some clothes and a new doll if you’d like.”

Diana slowly nodded her head as she bit her bottom lip. “Maybe.”

“Come, let’s get you cleaned up,” he suggested, carefully taking her hand and noticing how bruised and bloody it was. “You look absolutely terrible.”

Diana gasped with his touch, the sudden pain of the fractured bones in her hand making itself known with a vengeance. She quickly pulled her hand free, gently cradling it against her chest. Her expression grew sheepish as Bruce turned to look at her. She could practically feel his reproving glare burning through the white slits of his cowl.

Bruce sighed heavily as he carefully took her left hand in his before leading her out of the demolished training room. “You didn’t break this hand too did you?” he snorted the question with a frown of disapproval. 

How many times had he done the exact same thing as her though? Coming home after losing someone while on patrol only to abuse his body and push himself beyond his limits in punishment for his perceived failures. They were alike in so many ways it was startling sometimes.

“No,” she muttered in embarrassment as she followed him down the corridor.

Entering the infirmary, Bruce directed her towards a medical bed while he gathered the necessary supplies to fix her up and put her back together again. Returning to her, he settled on the edge of the medical bed beside her.

Grabbing the antiseptic and cotton swabs, he gently began cleaning the numerous cuts on her face. “When I received that call from Clark telling me what had happened…” he suddenly paused as his voice cracked, doing his best to gather his thoughts as well as his emotions in that moment to say what he needed to say to her. “If anything happened…Diana, I…”

“I’m sorry, Bruce,” she softly apologized as she averted her gaze. “When I looked into the devastated face of that little girl and she started screaming at me for not saving her mother…I don’t know what happened. Something just broke inside of me. It felt like a piece of me had died in that building along with her mother.”

“I understand, Diana,” he told her as he worked on a particularly nasty cut above her eyebrow.

“You do?”

Batman nodded his head, his heart hurting a little more with each and every cut that he treated and he hadn’t even gotten to the horrible gashes across her back yet. “Did I ever tell you about the little boy that I couldn’t save?”

Diana frowned as she thought about his question. “No, I don’t think so.”

“His name was Zachary Evans,” he began, his voice subdued and yet wrought with barely restrained emotion. “He was a ten year old boy who had gone missing in Gotham a few years ago. His parents were of course frantic and the police were quickly running out of leads as well as time. I had discovered that a known sex offender had taken him. By the time I had gotten to the guy’s apartment…it was too late.”

Tears instantly welled in her eyes as she listened to him, sharing in his grief over the loss. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured, her hand coming to rest against his cowled face, wishing she could see his piercing blue eyes.

Bruce cleared his throat before responding, cleaning her hand before reaching for the gauze to wrap it. “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of him. Zachary would have been sixteen years old next month.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” she attempted to comfort him.

“Just like today wasn’t your fault, Princess,” he reminded her. “We can’t always be there in time to save everyone, but we can be there to help as many as we can. While it’s tragic that that woman and her unborn child died today, you need to focus on the thirteen lives that you did save. Because of you, there are thirteen people who will go to sleep tonight more than grateful that Wonder Woman had been there to save them.”

Diana slowly nodded her head, knowing in her heart that he was right, but it was still difficult to swallow the painful loss. They had seen countless tragedies over the years, had seen people die, but it never became any easier to accept. 

“Thank you for coming up here, Bruce,” she murmured as she studied his face.

The corner of his mouth quirked slightly in response. “Always, Princess,” he replied. “You, Diana Wayne, are always worth coming for and you’re more than enough to be Wonder Woman. I don’t want you to ever forget that.”

Diana smiled softly in return as she closed the distance between them, her lips finding his in a long slow kiss that soon deepened as they lost themselves in the reassuring contact that both of them had so greatly needed in that moment. 

Finally breaking the kiss, she pressed her forehead against his. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

“It’s alright,” he told her, taking her good hand in his. “Let’s go home and get you cleaned up.”

“I’d like that,” she agreed. “I’m sure I look as wonderful as I smell right now.”

“You have no idea,” he teased her. “I’ll draw you a hot bath, take care of your wounds and tuck you into bed before I head out on patrol tonight.”

“Will you please stay with me? Hold me for just a little while before you have to leave?” she asked as she stood to her feet, doing her best to remain upright at that moment.

“For as long as you need me, Princess,” he promised her as his hand went to his commlink. “Two to transport home, J’onn.”

“Right away, Batman,” J’onn responded as Bruce leaned in to kiss Diana again, their images shimmering before disappearing altogether.

After getting her cleaned up and tending to every single injury, Bruce climbed into bed behind her, carefully curling his body around hers and holding her close against him. Burying his face in her hair, he breathed deeply, inhaling her intoxicating scent that soothed his soul. 

He laid there for quite some time, listening to the slow steady cadence of her breathing. She had fallen asleep almost immediately after he had pulled the covers over her, barely registering that he was even there holding her like she had wanted him to. He didn’t mind in the least, though, needing to hold her in his arms right now as much as she had needed to be held.

He was more than relieved that he had been able to get through to her, that her injuries would be healed in a couple of days. The emotional wounds of the day would take a lot longer to heal, but he would be there to help her though it. His wife was safe with him where she always belonged and that was enough for him right now. 

Finally forcing himself to let go of her, Bruce stood by the bed for a long moment just watching her as she slept. She was so unbelievably beautiful both inside and out, but it was her heart that he loved the most, her compassion and selflessness. It was why she had struggled so hard with the tragic loss today.

He had to admit that it was somewhat surreal being the one to pull her back from the edge that he usually found himself teetering on, but he knew that they were far stronger together than they ever were apart.

And together they were definitely more than enough for everything life threw their way.

**THE END ******


End file.
